BGT 2024-25: Gilchrist Says Hazlewood’s Remarks Reveal a Divided Australian Dressing Room

Former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist has interpreted Josh Hazlewood's post-match comments after a difficult day three of the first Test against India as a possible indication of tension within the Australian dressing room.

At a press conference, Hazlewood was asked about what Australia would do on day four. His answer:
You probably have to ask one of the batters that question. I'm sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of physio and a bit of treatment, and I'm probably looking mostly towards the next Test and what plans we can do against these batters.

He adds: "Perhaps the batsmen are just sticking to what they do, their preparation. They'll have a hit in the morning and talk around plans of what went wrong in the first innings, how they can negate that and move ahead and get even better at that.

Speaking on Fox Sports during the fourth day's play, Gilchrist said, "That to me tells me there is potentially a divided change room. I don't know if there is. I might be reading too much into that." He sought out an opinion from former Australian opener David Warner, who offered his point of view:
I think that as a senior player you owe it to yourself when you are representing the team to have something that the batters want to get across, all the batters are thinking about going out and batting.

There's not a lot of runs in that changeroom at the moment, but to have the support from a senior bowler, those comments probably weren't warranted. I don't think there's a divide in there. you could come off after a long day and start pointing fingers, but I don't think there's a divide," he added.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan was surprised by Hazlewood's comments.
“Publicly, I’ve never heard an Australian come out and divide the camp into batters and bowlers. There’s 11 batters, that will never change; every player has to bat. There’s two days to go in the Test match, it’s a long shot for Australia to get anything out of this game,” Vaughan said.

But to publicly see a player say basically, 'I'm thinking about the next game before this game is finished. you can see there's a little bit of grumpiness there.' To come out in public and speak like that, I've never seen an Australian do that."

Vaughan also commented on some of the larger implications:
"Any player around the globe, but particularly an Australian. the togetherness and the lack of spirit in the outfield, you don't say that often about Australia."

Adding to the discussion, former India player and head coach Ravi Shastri opined that Hazlewood's comments hinted at "mental cracks" in the Australian camp.
What the Indian dressing room will be thinking when they hear something like that is we know there are some cracks on the pitch," Shastri said.

"But then there are some mental cracks as well in the opposition. Having come to Australia for 30-40 years, I think this is the first time an Indian team is feeling that, you know what, we're better than the opposition in their own backyard. I don't think an Indian team has ever thought that way. Quietly they will be thinking 'we will have to lose it here.'"